News that matter

Below our virgin launch of the morning brief of important news while you were sleeping. Courtesey to our virtual trader.

FT.com

US investor Bill Ackman is considering launching an initial public offering of a new fund to raise as much as $3bn in permanent capital for investments, reports the FT. The activist investor, whose hedge fund Pershing Square has $10bn under management, http://ftalphaville.ft.com/thecut/2011/06/17/597361/ackman-eyes-fund-ipo-to-raise-3bn/

Fears of contagion from political and market turmoil in Greece sent Spanish borrowing costs to 11-year highs, in spite of a new deal between the EU and IMF that reduced the chance of an imminent default in Athens. http://ftalphaville.ft.com/thecut/2011/06/17/597251/greenspan-warns-on-greek-default/

WSJ

Asian stock markets were mixed in choppy trade Friday, as sentiment remained jittery due to continued concerns over Greek debt woes, but Australian shares climbed as analysts said the market has become cheap. Japan’s Nikkei Stock Average rose 0.1%, Australia’s S&P/ASX 200 added 0.9%, South Korea’s Kospi Composite gained 0.3% and New Zealand’s NZX-50 fell 0.1%. Dow Jones Industrial Average futures were up 28 points in screen trade.  http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304186404576390413112422114.html?mod=WSJASIA_hpp_LEFTTopWhatNews

British officials are waging an increasingly aggressive fight to impose banking regulations as they see fit, even if they go further than rules elsewhere in the European Union. British officials have publicly lashed out at European policy makers who are pushing proposals that would limit the U.K.’s ability to go beyond other countries when it comes to bank capital and liquidity requirements. http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052702304186404576389800730574180.html?mod=WSJEurope_hpp_MIDDLETopStories

Bloomberg

The Basel Committee on Banking Supervision is considering extra capital requirements of as much as 3.5 percentage points that the largest banks may face if they grow bigger, according to two people familiar with the talks. The so-called surcharge would take the form of a boost to capital the banks must hold and would apply to financial institutions whose collapse would harm the global economy. A list of such banks hasn’t been disclosed. http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-06-16/basel-is-said-to-consider-3-5-percentage-point-fee-to-curb-growth-of-banks.html

India’s central bank signaled it may slow the most aggressive monetary tightening among Asia’s major economies as risks to global growth threaten to undermine consumer demand. “While the Reserve Bank needs to continue with its anti- inflationary stance, the extent of policy action needs to balance the adverse movements in inflation with recent global developments and their likely impact on the domestic growth trajectory,” the central bank said yesterday after it raised the repurchase rate to 7.50 percent from 7.25 percent. http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-06-16/india-signals-slower-pace-of-interest-rate-rises-on-global-economic-risks.html

The index of U.S. leading indicators probably rebounded in May after declining for the first time in almost a year, a sign economic growth may pick up by the end of 2011, economists forecast a report will show today. The Conference Board’s gauge of the outlook for the next three to six months rose 0.3 percent after a 0.3 percent decline in April, according to the median estimate of 51 forecasts in a Bloomberg News survey. Another report may show consumer confidence was little changed this month. http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-06-17/leading-economic-indicators-in-u-s-probably-increased-in-sign-of-rebound.html

USAtoday.com Capital One Financial Corp. (COF), until now best known for its credit cards, is poised to become a major force in online banking. The McLean, Va.-based company said Thursday that it will buy ING’s U.S. online banking unit for $9 billion in a cash and stock deal.Under the terms of the deal, Netherlands-based ING Groep will receive $6.2 billion in cash and $2.8 billion in the form of Capital One shares. That will make ING the largest single shareholder in Capital One after the deal closes. ING will also have the right to be represented by a member of Capital One’s board of directors. http://www.usatoday.com/money/industries/banking/2011-06-16-capital-one-ing-direct_n.htm

BBC.co.uk The US current account deficit rose 6.3% to $119.3bn (£74bn) in the first three months of the year, the Commerce Department has said. Strong exports of cars, computers and machinery were offset by imports, particularly of more expensive oil. The deficit for the quarter represented 3.2% of US gross domestic product, up from 3% in the fourth quarter of 2010. Separately, the number of new homes built in April rose 3.5%, but house building remained subdued. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-13793962

Telegraph.co.uk Stock and bond markets lurched on Thursday amid fears that the Greek sovereign debt crisis was about to unleash a “Lehman-like” shock on the global financial system. Traders feared that the political chaos and riots across Greece would cause a default, which in turn would trigger a tsunami through the financial system – as the collapse of Lehman Brothers did in 2008. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/financialcrisis/8580951/Greek-debt-crisis-is-Europes-Lehman-moment.html

Xinhuanet.com A total of 23 percent of foreign investment in China went into the real estate sector last year, the country’s foreign exchange regulator said on Thursday. The ratio of foreign investment in the property sector remained well above 10 percent over the past 10 years, with such investment growing rapidly since 2006, said the State Administration of Foreign Exchange (SAFE) in its 2010 annual report. http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/china/2011-06/16/c_13934260.htm

Hong Kong’s exports volume fell 4.3 percent in April from a year ago, while the imports volume decreased 0.3 percent from a year earlier, the city’s statistics department said Thursday. The exports volume of the first four months this year rose 11.6 percent, and the volume of imports increased 9.3 percent, according to the department. http://news.xinhuanet.com/english2010/china/2011-06/16/c_13934063.htm

Thehindu.com The moderation will turn into a firm decline over the coming months. Food inflation eased marginally to 8.96 per cent for the week ended June 4 from 9.01 per cent in the previous week owing to cheaper pulses and vegetables amid expectations that following a good monsoon, the moderation will turn into a firm decline over the coming months. Airing this optimism, Prime Minister’s Economic Advisory Council (PMEAC) Chairman C. Rangarajan said: “Since the monsoon is expected to be normal, one can expect the food inflation to come down in the coming months.”  http://www.thehindu.com/business/Economy/article2109337.ece

Themoscowtimes.com India and Russia plan to boost trade to $20 billion per year by 2015, Indian Commerce and Industry Minister Anand Sharma said during a round table at the economic forum in St. Petersburg on Thursday. The Russian and Indian economies are worth $1 trillion combined, Sharma said. The countries are stepping up trade relations and have formed six working groups to map out further areas of cooperation, he said. Machinery and equipment accounts for more than half of Russian exports to India, and oil and gas just 5 percent, Deputy Prime Minister Sergei Ivanov said. http://www.themoscowtimes.com/business/article/indian-russian-trade-to-reach-20bln-by-2015/438983.html